Global warming was ranked as the biggest risk to society over the next five to ten years in a report released Tuesday by French insurance giant AXA SA. While it also topped the rankings in 2018 and 2019, it was overtaken by disease and pandemics last year as the virus spread across the world.
“Climate change is back at the top of the agenda,” Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA, said in a statement. “This is good news, since last year we feared that the explosion of health risks could make us forget the climate emergency.”
Insurers are increasingly confronted with global warming, as extreme weather events caused by climate change are expected to continue to increase. Just under a fifth of the 3,500 insurance professionals surveyed in 60 countries expressed confidence in the government to alleviate the crisis.
The survey also found that cyber risks, which came second on the list, were a growing fear for insurers. This year, some 61% of respondents place cybersecurity among their top five concerns, up from 54% in 2018. The pandemic has fallen to third place.
“The pandemic and containment have certainly increased the use of digital tools, and we insurers have seen that it has also intensified cyber risks and attacks,” said AXA Deputy CEO Frédéric de Courteous, during a press briefing with journalists.
